1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of containers for grouping articles in categories, especially for grouping sheet-like articles in containers which can be stored in registry and are moved out of registry for viewing at least along an edge, the containers each being carried along by a next container in a stack.
2. Prior Art
Many forms of article-receiving files and like elements are known, being commonly stored in registry with one another in file cabinets, on shelves and in bins provided for that purpose. When the article-receiving filing elements are positioned in registry, i.e. aligned precisely one on top of the other or one along side the other, depending upon the orientation of the registered stack, the faces of the article-receiving elements are covered by the next successive article-receiving elements on either side thereof. The faces are not visible for labels because they are covered in the stack. This is true of many common items normally stored in registry, for example, office files, record albums, computer diskettes, books and pamphlets, etc. Therefore, particularly when the article receiving elements are flat and all the same size, such as office files, photographs, information storage media and other items produced in standard sizes, the large front and rear panels and any labeling which may appear there are wasted so long as the items are stored in registry.
The widest faces of these flat elements are covered by the next of the elements in the stack. Therefore, one either labels the very small edge of the item, or means must to be provided to allow the items in registry to tilt or be displaced such that at least a short area on the front panel can be viewed to determine its file number, title or the like.
This problem, i.e., usefully labeling items such as wide, flat stacked files, photograph albums, computer diskette envelopes and the like, has been solved in various ways for specific types of article-receiving folders, envelopes etc. For example, in connection with business folders, it is common to provide indexing tabs extending from the body of articles in registry, which tabs protrude and thus remain visible even though the articles themselves cover one another when placed in registry. The tabs are frequently displaced laterally for successive folders such that the tabs themselves do not overlap. As an alternative solution, file drawers for files placed on edge are usually provided with sufficient room to allow all the files to lean backward, thereby exposing the extreme upper edge of each, insofar as the tilting of the stacked files causes the upper edges to move out of registry. As another alternative, the files can be made extra thick for edge labeling. Phonograph album jackets, audio cassette tapes and the like, are frequently provided with sufficient width along the edge to enable labeling. However, especially with phonograph albums, the space along the edge is quite narrow and hardly adequate to label the item especially as the edges are subjected to wear.
The present invention is especially applicable to file folders and to the sort of article receiving envelopes used to store computer diskettes. Similar to file drawer arrangements, computer diskettes storage file boxes are designed with sufficient space to enable all the diskettes to lean backward, whereupon at least an upper edge of labels positioned near the upper edge may be visible.
Similarly, at a cost of somewhat more depth, the foremost filing envelopes or the like in a drawer can be leaned forward and the rearmost envelopes leaned backward, opening a space exposing the full face of the single envelope at the boundary between the forward and rearward-leaning types. In this case, the forward-leaning envelopes are not visible along their front edges. The rearward-leaning envelopes are visible along a short section of edge due to the tilting of the envelopes. Only the foremost of the rearward leaning envelopes is substantially visible such that a reasonably large label can be examined. In scanning a group of files according to this system, the user is required to flip through the files, leaning them forward one at a time until the desired one is found.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,396-Nomura discloses a storage means for computer diskettes. A plurality of pockets for receiving the diskettes are positioned in registry when the storage means is collapsed and are also connected by means of short webs that allow the individual envelopes to be displaced from one another, exposing an edge of the front panel when the storage means is extended. Nomura's device is not subject to reorganization of the order of the envelopes, because the individual envelopes are physically attached permanently to one another by the webs.
In the prior art of card files, an effort has been made to provide a means for attaching successive cards in a card file, for example 3.times.5 inch index cards, Rolodex telephone cards etc. These cards are not receptacles for articles, but instead are flat sheets, usually of card stock, bearing information on their front faces, and normally flipped between a rearward tilting position and a frontward tilting position to expose the successive front faces when passing from one card to the next.
U.S. Pat. No. 898,034-Brunn discloses a means for engaging index cards to one another. A tab extending from the top of one index card is received in a slot in a next rearward index card. The slot can be formed in several ways, in each case the slot being lower than the fold between the top of the tab and the card. The cards as thus engaged tab-to-receptacle can be stored in registry and by lifting any of the cards, the rear cards in front of that card on the stack are lifted and carried along when the tabs in these front cards engage in the receptacles of the next successive cards to the rear. The top front edge of each card is exposed when the cards are lifted as described, or is covered when the cards are in registry. Among the several different means defining slots in the cards in Brunn are a simple slot (i.e., an elongated hole) through each card, and also a laminated configuration forming a slot at the top and leading to an open bottom between laminated panels. The front and rear panels are glued on opposite sides of intervening side and/or central elements, whereby the space between the front and rear panels defines an opening in which the connecting tab of a next card can be inserted. The cards telescope, but inasmuch as there is no bottom to the structure so formed, the device would not be able to retain a loose article such as a diskette or the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 972,302 -Waller discloses a similar sort of filing system to that of Brunn. A separable linking and sliding element such as a metal strip is attached to each card by means of a fabric hinge, and is received in a slot in a next card. The Waller and Brunn devices are both arranged for telescoping filing cards with information on their fronts, and do not disclose the possibility of telescoping receptacles, or using the pocket of a receptacle as an interlocking telescoping element
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,524,965-Eddy and 1,721,248-Davis teach variations for filing index cards in which two slots in a rear card are oriented vertically, and receive transverse tabs from the front card, the slots being somewhat longer in a vertical direction than the tabs, allowing the rear cards to be lifted with some lost motion relative to the front card, to expose the top front edge of the rear card.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,539,411-Davis and 1,238,332-Rand Jr. also disclose means for exposing the top edges of index cards. In each case, however, a supplemental apparatus is disposed under the cards, or means permanently affix the cards at an offset from one another, in order to expose the top front edges of the cards.
The present invention provides a lost motion telescoping connection between containers with pockets for receiving articles, by means of a connection flap from a front such container extending into an article-receiving pocket in a next container to the rear, the containers being stackable in registry and the top edge of rearmost container being exposed by lifting it, until the lost motion connection causes the next successive forward container to be lifted as well. The next container lifts yet a next container, and so on. The flap on the ultimate rearmost container can be turned forwardly to neatly close the stack in a single closed package. Accordingly, containers are stacked in registry in a compact and orderly fashion, but the user can easily scan the labeled edges of a plurality of containers by merely pulling a rearmost container out of registry, engaging the connecting flap of the next successive container, and pulling a plurality of such containers out of registry until locating a desired one. The desired one is easily separated by lifting the next forward container until its flap clears the desired container. The invention can be operated in a vertical-pulling arrangement, and is likewise operable by arranging the flap and pocket for sideways motion. The invention provides a compact and efficient means for storing numerous different types of articles, including but not limited to sheet-like articles such as papers, file folders, computer diskettes, phonograph albums, and sheets and prints generally.